THE SHADOWS WE CAST.
"The smallest bark on life's tumultuous ocean
Will leave a track behind for evermore;
The slightest wave of influence set in motion
Extends and widens to the eternal shore."
Every one of us casts a shadow. There hangs about us a sort of
penumbra,--a strange, indefinable something,--which we call personal
influence, which has its effect on every other life on which it falls.
It goes with us wherever we go. It is not something we can have when
we want to have it, and then lay aside when we will, as we lay aside a
garment. It is something that always pours out from our life, like
light from a lamp, like heat from flame, like perfume from a flower.
No one can live, and not have influence. Says Elihu Burritt: "No human
being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the
sum total of human happiness, not only of the present, but of every
subsequent age of humanity. No one can detach himself from this
connection. There is no sequestered spot in the universe, no dark
niche along the disk of non-existence, to which he can retreat from his
relations to others, where he can withdraw the influence of his
existence upon the moral destiny of the world; everywhere his presence
or absence will be felt, everywhere he will have companions who will be
better or worse for his influence." These are true words. To be at
all is to have influence, either for good or evil, over other lives.
The ministry of personal influence is something very wonderful.
Without being conscious of it, we are always impressing others by this
strange power that goes out from us. Others watch us and their actions
are modified by ours. Many a life has been started on a career of
beauty and blessing by the influence of one noble act. The disciples
saw their Master praying, and were so impressed by his earnestness, or
by the radiancy they saw on his face, as he communed with his Father,
that when he joined them again they asked him to teach them how to
pray. Every true soul is impressed continually by the glimpses it has
of loveliness, of holiness, or of nobleness in others.
One kind deed often inspires many kindnesses. Here is a story from a
newspaper of the other day, which illustrates this. A little newsboy
entered a car on the elevated railway train, and slipping into a
cross-seat, was soon asleep. Presently two young ladies came in, and
took seats opposite to him. The child's feet were bare, his clothes
were ragged, and his face was pinched and drawn, showing marks of
hunger and suffering. The young ladies noticed him, and, seeing that
his cheek rested against the hard window-sill, one of them arose, and
quietly raising his head, slipped her muff under it for a pillow.
The kind act was observed, and now mark its influence. An old
gentleman in the next seat, without a word, held out a silver quarter
to the young lady, nodding toward the boy. After a moment's
hesitation, she took it, and as she did so, another man handed her a
dime, a woman across the aisle held out some pennies, and almost before
the young woman realized what she was doing, she was taking a
collection for the poor boy. Thus from the one little act there had
gone out a wave of influence touching the hearts of two score people,
and leading each of them to do something.
Common life is full of just such illustrations of the influence of
kindly deeds. Every good life leaves in the world a twofold ministry,
that of the things it does directly to bless others, and that of the
silent influence it exerts, through which others are made better, or
are inspired to do like good things.
Influence is something, too, which even death does not end. When
earthly life closes, a good man's active work ceases. He is missed in
the places where his familiar presence has brought benedictions. No
more are his words heard by those who ofttimes have been cheered or
comforted by them. No more do his benefactions find their way to homes
of need where so many times they have brought relief. No more does his
gentle friendship minister strength and hope and courage to hearts that
have learned to love him. The death of a good man, in the midst of his
usefulness, cuts off a blessed ministry of helpfulness in the circle in
which he has dwelt. But his influence continues. Longfellow writes:--
"Alike are life and death
When life in death survives,
And the uninterrupted breath
Inspires a thousand lives.
"Were a star quenched on high,
For ages would its light,
Still travelling downward from the sky,
Shine on our mortal sight.
"So when a great man dies,
For years beyond our ken
The light he leaves behind him lies
Upon the paths of men."
The influence which our dead have over us is ofttimes very great. We
think we have lost them when we see their faces no more, nor hear their
voices, nor receive the accustomed kindnesses at their hands. But in
many cases there is no doubt that what our loved ones do for us after
they are gone is quite as important as what they could have done for us
had they stayed with us. The memory of beautiful lives is a
benediction, softened and made more rich and impressive by the sorrow
which their departure caused. The influence of such sacred memories is
in a certain sense more tender than that of life itself. Death
transfigures our loved one, as it were, sweeping away the faults and
blemishes of the mortal life, and leaving us an abiding vision, in
which all that was beautiful, pure, gentle, and true in him remains to
us. We often lose friends in the competitions and strifes of earthly
life, whom we would have kept forever had death taken them away in the
earlier days when love was strong. Often is it true, as Cardinal
Newman writes:--
"He lives to us who dies; he is but lost who lives."
Thus even death doth not quench the influence of a good life. It
continues to bless others long after the life has passed from earth.
It is true, as Mrs. Sangster writes:--
"They never quite leave us, our friends who have passed
Through the shadows of death to the sunlight above;
A thousand sweet memories are holding them fast
To the places they blessed with their presence and love.
"The work which they left and the books which they read
Speak mutely, though still with an eloquence rare,
And the songs that they sung, and the dear words that they said
Yet linger and sigh on the desolate air.
"And oft when alone, and oft in the throng,
Or when evil allures us, or sin draweth nigh,
A whisper comes gently, 'Nay, do not the wrong,'
And we feel that our weakness is pitied on high."
It must be remembered that not all influence is good. Evil deeds also
have influence. Bad men live, too, after they are gone. Cried a dying
man whose life had been full of harm to others: "Gather up my
influence, and bury it with me in my grave." But the frantic,
remorseful wish was in vain. The man went out of the world, but his
influence stayed behind him, its poison to work for ages in the lives
of others.
We need, therefore, to guard our influence with most conscientious
care. It is a crime to fling into the street an infected garment which
may carry contagion to men's homes. It is a worse crime to send out a
printed page bearing words infected with the virus of moral death. The
men who prepare and publish the vile literature which to-day goes
everywhere, polluting and defiling innocent lives, will have a fearful
account to render when they stand at God's bar to meet their influence.
If we would make our lives worthy of God, and a blessing to the world,
we must see to it that nothing we do shall influence others in the
slightest degree to evil.
In the early days of American art there went from this country to
London a young artist of genius and of a pure heart. He was poor, but
had an aspiration for noble living as well as for fine painting. Among
his pictures was one that in itself was pure, but that by a sensuous
mind might be interpreted in an evil way. A lover of art saw this
picture and purchased it. But when it was gone the young artist began
to think of its possible hurtful influence on the weak, and his
conscience troubled him. He went to his patron and said, "I have come
to buy back my picture." The purchaser could not understand him.
"Didn't I pay you enough for it? Do you need money?" he asked. "I am
poor," replied the artist, "but my art is my life. Its mission must be
good. The influence of that picture may possibly be harmful. I cannot
be happy with it before the eyes of the world. It must be withdrawn."
We should keep watch not only over our words and deeds in their intent
and purpose, but also in their possible influence over others. There
may be liberties which in us lead to no danger, but which to others,
with less stable character and less helpful environment, would be full
of peril. It is part of our duty to think of these weaker ones and of
the influence of our example upon them. We may not do anything, in our
strength and security, which might possibly harm others. We must be
willing to sacrifice our liberty, if by its exercise we endanger
another's soul. This is the teaching of St. Paul in the words: "It is
good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby
thy brother stumbleth"; and "If meat maketh my brother to stumble, I
will eat no flesh for evermore, that I make not my brother to stumble."
How can we make sure of an influence that shall be only a benediction?
There is no way but by making our life pure and good. Just in the
measure in which we are filled with the Spirit of God and have the love
of Christ in us, shall our influence be holy and a blessing to the
world.